


Between Pages

by FyireMoon



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M, Mother Robin and Baby Lucina, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, The Chrombin is only really at the end, insomniac Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 09:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18870109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyireMoon/pseuds/FyireMoon
Summary: The war is over, Robin needs to remind herself of that fact. She reminds herself over and over but the war with Grima left more than just physical scars. On one of the many sleepless nights she soldiers through, someone gets through to her.





	Between Pages

**Author's Note:**

  * For [writingwithmolls](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingwithmolls/gifts).



The war was over.

 

That’s what Robin has to remind herself, over and over and over. The war is over. It was a repeated mantra running through her head. It was whispered between the pages of tomes on strategy, muttered into her husband's hair as he fell asleep and sobbed against the back of her right hand, the skin red and irritated as she tries to scrub away a mark that’s no longer there.

 

She secludes herself at night, long after Chrom has fallen asleep. His old room, vacant since he was moved to the Exalt’s chambers, becomes her study. Under the light of a few candles, Robin pours over her old books, fingers tracing the notes she’d made in the margins.

 

Nothing seems to be able to distract her this time. No matter how many pages pass between her fingers there’s a cold feeling at the back of her neck, something daring her to turn around and face the nightmare. Robin rests her elbows on the table, rubbing her eyes. Her hair, long and white, tumbled around her shoulders. It had gotten away from her the past few weeks, falling around her face instead of being kept back in the braided ponytail she preferred. Because of it, people had started to notice her sleeplessness.

 

When Robin opens her eyes and looks back to the pages opened before her she sees a second set of writing around her notes. It’s messy, done in a deep blue ink. She runs her fingers across them, noting the questioning way it’s written and how it circles her clearer instructions. A lump rises in her throat that she quickly fights down.

 

Morgan.

 

The war was over. Her son and daughter, Morgan and Lucina, were both gone and yet here at the same time. Four-year-old Lucina was wrapped in her bed in the castle while little Morgan slept in the nursery. Somewhere out there were the versions of them, older and hardened by war. The future children had disappeared into the world, leaving the world to create its own path towards a warless place they didn’t recognize.

 

It was for the best, Robin knew this, but thinking of the days she’d spent with Lucina and Morgan left an aching tightness in her chest.

 

She can’t spend much longer losing herself in the past. A set of small footsteps sounds outside the door and the heavy wooden surface swings open slowly. Robin turns, hand resting instinctively on the tome beside her as she does.

 

A little girl stands in the door, rubbing her eyes with the one hand that wasn’t keeping the door open, “Mama?” The anxious chill in her body is immediately replaced by a comforting warmth at the sight of the child, and her hand falls from the book.

 

Robin stands, smiling gently, “Lucina, sweetie, you should be in bed.” She moves to the door and picks the girl up, resting her daughter on her hip.

 

“I couldn’t sleep.” Lucina yawns, holding onto the lapels of her mother’s robe.

 

“Oh?” Robin brushes the girl's soft blue hair back, and kisses her cheek, “Why not?” Carrying her back to the desk she sits down again, letting Lucina settle more comfortably on her lap.

 

She nestles into her mother’s arms and closes her eyes, “I heard you leave your room and wanted to be with you.” She yawns, “I’ve heard you leave most nights. Daddy and Auntie Lissa were talking about it this morning.”

 

“Were they?” Robin frowns, absently running her fingers through Lucina’s hair. She’d suspected that Frederick knew, but had hoped Chrom hadn’t noticed her disappearance. It all makes sense now. He’d held her tighter the past few nights, hoping he could keep her there with him.

 

“Mama?” Lucina looks up, eyes bleary, “Are you going to leave?”

 

_Robin is gripped by the image of a head falling to her shoulder, a body shaking with sobs. A young boy staring into the face of the father he can’t remember. The theatrics of a hero replaced by cold fear as his father takes an arrow to the shoulder. Twin tails of blazing red hair falling around the stern face of a woman, faltering under anger for a mother that never came back. Children who grew up with stories rather than parents._

 

“Lucina.” Robin sits her daughter up so they’re face to face, “I will _never_ leave you. You and Morgan are everything to me, I will always be here for you. I promise, no matter what happens, nothing is going to take me away from you.” She pulls the girl close, cradling her head against the crook of her neck, “I’m not going anywhere.”

 

The little girl sighs, sleepy and content, “I love you, Mama.”

 

Robin rocks her slowly, wiping the tears from her eyes she’d barely noticed fall, “I love you too, Lucina.”

 

They stay like that for a long time, Robin easing her daughter back to sleep. She focuses on her own breathing as Lucina’s levels out, calming the worry that had blossomed in her chest. Getting up, she paces the length of the room slowly, holding her daughter close, until the last of the worry has faded.

 

The war is over, Robin has to remind herself of that, but she also needs to remind herself that she’s not alone. The world came together and rebuilt after Grima, new and different, but it recovered. The people moved forward, towards peace.

 

It was time for her to do the same, to really rebuild from that day and move forward. She had more help than she realized against the war she was waging in her own head. The same people who called to her when she was drowning in the dark would be there for her no matter what.

 

The war was over, it was time for her to take control back.

 

Robin blows the candles above the desk out and carries Lucina out of the room, letting the door fall closed behind her. She left the books inside and for once, didn’t even consider bringing one with her.

 

The halls of the castle are cold against her bare feet, her long robe bushing the ground as she walks. Lucina doesn’t wake for much, occasionally letting out a soft sigh and curling snugly against her mother’s chest. Robin smiles down at her as she turns the final corner to her room.

A figure is stepping out of the room as she approached, “Oh.” Chrom sighs in relief when he sees Lucina in Robin’s arms, “I was wondering where she’d gone.”

 

She joins him in front of the door, “She came and found me.” With her free hand she reaches up and rests her hand against his cheek, “She’s already taking after you. Even at four years old she knows how to get through to me.”

Chrom leans into her touch, turning his head to kiss the inside of her palm, “Sounds like her.” Robin steps forward, running her hand from his cheek to the back of his head to pull him close. He wraps his arms around her, careful not to crush Lucina between them. For a long moment they stayed like that, Chrom face buried in her hair and her face tucked in the crook of his neck.

 

Eventually, Chrom steps back, brushing a piece of Lucina’s hair from her face, “Come on, let’s put her back to bed.” Robin hums her agreement, slipping past him into the room. She tucks the girl into bed, watching with a gentle smile as the girl snuggles down under the blankets. Leaning forward, she places a soft kiss on her forehead and then joins Chrom by the door again.

 

Sleep came easier to her that night than it had in years. Curled in her husband's arms, soothed by the steady motion of his fingers running through her hair, Robin drifted off into an easy sleep.

 

The war was truly over.


End file.
